Kidney Doc Appointment

I decided to do a blog post b/c it's to much info for a FB status... so deal with it!  :P

Kidney Doc update:  this visit was on the fence.  Good and Bad to report.  Good!  my blood pressure is low, almost to low, so I need to monitor it and if it does not come up a little bit or I keep getting light headed I need to cut one of my pills in half.  So yay for low Blood Pressure, only took almost 20 years to get it under control but now it's almost to low, ha!  I cannot win.  Also another good is my creatinine is 1.8, down from 1.9 3 months ago.  I'LL TAKE IT!  My GFR number is still 62, so that did not get any worse, yay!  Ok onto the bad.  My potassium was high, high enough to alarm my doctor.  He gave me the serious talk, as in I need to watch my intake and not let it get any higher.  Because if it gets to high the only way to fix it will be Dialysis.  DAMMIT he used the "D" word.    So I am armed with a sheet of paper with all foods high in potassium and the knowledge that I need to get this shit in check.  BLEH.  So there you have it.  I went into this appointment with hopes of not having to go back in a year, but alas I need a 6 month check b/c of the potassium levels.  But I'm optimistic it will all work out! 

Kidney Doc Update

went to my doctors today for another kidney apt. Things are going well. I did get some sad news that they are counting my right kidney as "dead" before it was just kinda functioning, ahh well. A big problem I've been having is the large amounts of protein in my urine, a normal adult should have less that 250mg I was producing over 2000mg. That was back in May, they since put me on 2 new meds, one in april and after 6 months of that my protein is down to 900mg so I got some more blood work etc done today to see if the 2nd new med is doing its job too. I will get results later on. We also talked about my diagnosis. with all the Nephrologists I've seen no one has diagnosised me. This one finally did! I have Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a type of Glomerular Disease, one of many diseases that affect kidney function by attacking the glomeruli, the tiny units within the kidney where blood is cleaned. Glomerulosclerosis (gloh-MAIR-yoo-loh-skleh-ROH-sis) describes the scarring or hardening of the tiny blood vessels within the kidney.
with that being said these new meds I'm on seem to be helping! We did talk more about a kidney bipsy but he stressed he didn't feel it nessesary and it was really my choice, I opted for no biopsy. Too many risks involved in that and with just having one good kidney I'm staying away from the operating table, thank you very much! ha ha. I feel great and my blood pressure read was fabulous! 120/80!!!! So that is my update! Hooray!

Today is Kidney Doc Day! Hooray!

I'm headed to my Kidney doc in a few, to have a follow up apt to see if the new meds are doing their trick... I'm sure I won't find out today, because I"ll need to be poked and prodded. So look for an update coming soon!